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Saturday, March 12, 2011

In the darkroom....

I spent the day printing in the darkroom today, it was the first time I had done so in quiet some time; it's a part of photography that I enjoy almost as most as going out with my camera. While I don't have a darkroom of my own, I am grateful enough to know someone who does, and I must say Robert Hall's darkroom is one of the nicest darkroom's I have ever worked in.
Even though I have been wanting to print for some time, the big reason I did so today was because of the email I got earlier this week from another photographer and fellow angler Jason Morrison. In his email Jason asked if I'd be interested in showing my photography along side his in the display space he had recently gotten at the up coming Wasatch Fly Tying and Fly Fishing Expo, without hesitation I said yes.

I decided upon 10 different negatives that I would make five photographs to for the expo, eight of which would have to be printed in the darkroom, and the remaining two I will print on the computer.

Robert is a gracious host, everything was set up by the time I got to his home so all I had to do was pull out my negatives and away I went.

I got into the groove quickly despite having been in the darkroom last about a year ago, so I was able to figure out what I needed to do each negative without wasting a lot of time or paper.

I am not quite sure which is more magical, doing all of the dodging, burning and other adjustments as I create the photograph or watching it all appear as the paper bathes in the developer.

Before too long one completed print become two, then three, and so on...

Next thing I knew I was done with the first set of five photographs and moved on to the next set. I love to see how a test print becomes a final print, the whole process really is magical.

From test print to final print.

Before too long I had a print washer full of prints that had been archivally processed and washed and need to be emptied for the next cycle.

Not a bad way to spend to spend some time in the dark, wouldn't you say...

Despite having a goal of completing eight sets of five prints I was only able to complete seven in the seven hours I was printing today, so needless to say I am pleased with the work I did today.

The prints from today's darkroom session will be available for sale at the Wasatch Fly Tying and Fly Fishing Expo April 1-2, so please come by and by one or two.

These prints look great Brian! Nice work as always. I have mad respect for your photography. Your art is unique and sets you a part from the masses. With all the technology we have in camera bodies and lens performance, it is pretty damn cool that you rock the Holga and do it well!

Contact me:

Interested in purchasing a print or have a question about using Holga cameras?

About me:

My main interest in photography involves using a "toy camera", a Holga specifically. It's a primitive camera when compared to today's digital cameras. It's largely plastic and uses icons instead of scales and numbers for focusing and aperture numbers and it has only one shutter speed. But that's a small part of its appeal. There is this idea in art, called "wabi-sabi" that celebrates the beauty in the imperfect and the unconventional. Using a Holga, I am able to make photographs that are the essence of "wabi-sabi", because with a Holga you often get light leaks and photographs that aren't as sharp as they would be had I used a more conventional camera. Depending on the subject and the composition of the photograph, the light leaks often become a compositional element in the photograph as well as part of the wabi-sabi of the photograph. My photography is film based, it's not that I eschew digital photography, it's just that I enjoy the entire process and the intimacy involved in shooting film.